Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
outage
outage meeting
Pete Hartmann, hazardous material planning program manager, Eastern Washington region, initiates discussion with a crowd of public and private sector representatives on the initial response and reaction to a massive, long-term power outage hitting Whitman County.
Representatives from more than 50 organizations took part in the Long-Term Power Outage table-top exercise March 8 at the Public Service Building. The event drew from the public and private sectors and looked at how and what operations in Whitman County would be like after a massive earthquake takes out the west side of the state and shuts down power.
“I learned some good things about the utilities,” said Commissioner Art Swannack after the event.
Much of the discussion throughout the three-hours of table-top was with Avista and Inland Power representatives. One law officer expressed his belief that power could be obtained locally from the wind farm on Naff Ridge, but was told that was not possible. Power generated by the wind turbines has to go to different substations to step it down for regular use. Power company personnel also pointed out generated power does not get delivered when they don’t have a wire to transmit it.
The exercise started with an introduction by Bill Tensfeld, Whitman County emergency manager. He turned the floor over to Pete Hartmann, hazardous material planning program manager, Eastern Washington region.
“This is really for you to find out what you’re going to do in an event like this,” Hartmann told the group. He stated that private and public entities would have to integrate and that private industry had a responsibility to the community.
“Ultimately, we’re here to save the lives of the people should there be a catastrophic event,” he said.
The first module began with the room receiving the “news” the Cascadia event had occurred and looked at the initial reaction. The topic of back-up power and generators was the first brought up.
Hartmann asked who had generators and then who had back up fuel for running them and did everyone know how to start and run them. Would the generators be able to power everything in the office? One example was given of a business whose generators would run computers and communication, but not their HVAC system.
Another issue was how to get information out to the public. Power companies would focus on restoring power to the highest population and critical areas first. Power could be out for days to weeks depending on the damage and available crews.
How would information be distributed and validated? If cell phones were unusable due to dead batteries or down towers, who has landlines or satellite phones and who has those numbers. Region 9 Health Care Coalition seemed best prepared in that regard, but many had no back-up communication plan.
Tensfeld told the Gazette after the exercise he was surprised more people did not have landlines. He also felt there were many who did not fully grasp the fact they would not be able to use cell phones or social media to communicate. Many times talk circled back to using cell phones for communication.
Dan Dolan, WSU civil engineering professor who has assisted FEMA in several past, large-scale natural disasters, told the room to plan on people pulling together for the first 24 hours, but at 24 to 30 hours after the event people get desperate and that is when they start looking to themselves and the looting begins. After four days people settle down and get back to helping each other.
The second module looked at the timeline for later the same day of the event, but there was talk on how to handle issues that would surface like family demands on emergency responders and utility crews.
The windstorm of 2015 was referenced several times by Avista and Inland Power with examples of response. Inland reps said after the windstorm hit, they set up a room for children at the office so the parents could work. Hartmann added the work center may become a family resource center and that faith-based organizations were key to help with families and logistics.
While on the topic of families, another discrepancy between fact and belief was brought up. A school board member said in such an event, all the children would be sent home. A law enforcement officer suggested the schools be opened as a place to send people. While the school has space, it did not have any heat, light or way to prepare food if there was no power.
Bringing up gaps like that was part of the goal of the exercise.
“It’s all about those relationships and establishing them before,” Hartmann said during the exercise.
At the end of the exercise, Hartmann noted one take-away was the amount of dependency people have on each other and hoped they had opened participants up to ideas to incorporate other organizations in emergency response. It was noted Tensfeld and staff can help facilitate meetings for groups, towns and volunteers at the grass roots level to start the conversation on how to handle things in an emergency.
“It sure brought up a lot of questions. We do need to do a lot more planning in the future,” said Whitman County Commissioner Dean Kinzer at a commissioners’ workshop session after the event.
“It think it went real well,” Tensfeld told the Gazette.
He noted getting that many people in a room to talk is a good thing and initiated a lot of conversation. He, Hartmann, the Local Emergency Planning Committee and others will have a recap in April.
They will take bits and pieces of the feedback from participants where they can and build on it. One of those aspects would be how the county seat in Colfax could communicate with Pullman if there was no power to charge cell phones or pump gas. The county does have a plan to use Amateur Radio Emergency Service for communication.
Anyone who would like more materials or like to request an emergency management facilitate a meeting can contact Robin Cocking, emergency management deputy director, at 509-397-5606.
Whitman County Emergency Management Director Bill Tensfeld starts off the table top exercise with introductions.
Jana Mathia is a reporter at the Whitman County Gazette.
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